Gorgeous GQ looks & a lovely personality to match: 1-year-old Tundra has it all. His only vice? A penchant for eating things he shouldn’t. Many a Golden indulges in dietary indiscretion, of course, and usually gets off with a tummy-ache or a case of diarrhea. But Tundra’s ill-advised snacking almost killed him. One weekend in late May, he began acting “off”: champing, salivating, lethargic, unable to settle comfortably. An ER visit and a series of X-rays later, his shattered family was confronted with the fact that the well-loved pup they’d acquired quite by surprise, as an unexpected gift, now had a medical issue they could not afford to fix: the long-tailed plush toy he’d gulped down had created an intestinal blockage that would require a $2000+ surgery to address. And time was of the essence. Obstructions of this sort are an emergency. On a Sunday afternoon, with nowhere else to turn, they dropped him off at the shelter.

The staff e-mailed a photo of the blond dreamboat: “Owner surrender. Urgent medical. Can you take now?” Yes – and by early evening, Tundra was in surgery. Well past midnight, the vets finally checked in: “Good thing we did the surgery right away. A foot-long section of bowel was black and dead, and we removed it. Had we waited longer, the dead bowel might have perforated and caused a septic abdomen. Everything went smoothly, but it took a long time because there were lots of bleeders. He should be fine now.” After a few weeks of mending and some additional treatment for an intestinal infection, Tundra was ready for his forever home.

“Everyone will want him,” predicted foster mom Margo. “Tundra is a phenomenal young fellow. He loves to cuddle & is very sweet. He is easy to correct if he does something naughty like chewing on a plant. Tundra is WONDERFUL. He’s calmer than most young males, but expect him to get slightly rowdier as he recovers.” Sure enough, dad Bob says it’s hard to get a photo because “he is constantly moving.” He retains his interest in eating the wrong things (!! why can’t they learn from their mistakes?!), but his family is on top of it, and overall he’s doing great. “He loves to take laps around the backyard. His favorite activities are: eating, chase/chasing, tug-of-war, snuggling, lap-sitting, and shedding, maybe in that order. :-) He is also working on his charm skills and loves to be a lap dog. He’s a real lover! He likes to spend his time in the middle of where everyone happens to be.”

Personality: Tundra is a gorgeous blonde youngster who has been described as “pretty wonderful” and one of the “prettiest young boys that I’ve seen.” Right now he doesn’t have a lot of energy because he is recovering from abdominal surgery to remove part of a large child’s toy! He is doing just fine, though, and there is not one naughty thing on “his record” so far! Of course, this may change in 10 days or so when he gets off exercise restrictions and is allowed to be a bit more rambunctious! But for now, he stays quiet and calm.

Tundra has more good things going for him. He is polite, quiet and calm and gets along great with other dogs. He is not toy possessive nor protective of his food. He’s calm during these crazy Texas thunderstorms. He sleeps through the night and not only does he not use a crate, he has already graduated from being babygated to sleeping loose in the bedroom.

Ideal Home: First of all, let’s just say whoever adopts Tundra will be lucky, lucky, lucky. Other dogs in the house would be fine, but no children. Let us not forget the child’s toy that was removed from his tummy!

To learn about the adoption process and complete an application, click here. We do not guarantee the availability of the dog that you have expressed interest in as it may be matched to another waiting family. However, there are always new dogs available as rescue is dynamic. We appreciate your interest in adopting a rescued golden.

Gold Ribbon Rescue does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, ancestry, disability, sexual orientation or military status, in any of its activities or operations.